It seems like all they talk about is girls. Other teams say "wow, this place is amazing!" and they say "oh I wonder if theres some cute girls in here". It's really annoying.

Yeah, they do make loads of comments like that! But it adds a little bit of variety to the show, which I always like.

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1. Don't pick up the phone - You know he's only calling 'cause he's drunk and alone.2. Don't let him in - You have to kick him out again.3. Don't be his friend - You know you're gonna wake up in his bed in the morning.And if you're under him, you ain't gettin' over him. ♥

I was expecting their elimination when I saw the interview snippet with Ralph and Vanessa towards the end. At first though they seemed to be ahead in the fast forward task, and then suddenly Dave and Rachel said they were ahead so some confusing editing there. The underwater task seemed quite a quick one, the apples one always looked like a potentially very frustrating one. They must have been far slower doing the fast forward task than it looked in the program and may have been way behind. As I said before though I didn't find that they contributed so much to the show, so a perfect result I feel.

I am glad they were eliminated in a positive way. Losing out on a FF, the last time that happened was on TAR 13. If Vanessa and Ralph fell really behind, we might have an intense fight all the way till the end. But I guess they lost too much time (15-30 mins?) stacking up the haybales. And it sucks that the Detour and Roadblock was something which requires not much "brains" more of like a follow the instructions type and then teams will complete the task easily. Nature of the leg is designed in a way which have little tasks to allow teams behind to catch up, with the exception of the Apple task.

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"The Amazing Race shows the best and worst out of you. But if only negative things are shown, then it's probably you. - Jobby"

For the first time in seven seasons on The Amazing Race, there was a battle for a Fast Forward. And just like in Season 13, the losers this time — Joey "Fitness" Lasalla and Danny Horal — ultimately got eliminated. "We just really wanted first place," Joey tells TVGuide.com. "If we didn't do the Fast Forward, I think we would've come in second, third or fourth, but we did it and we have to live with it." The friends say they "100 percent" regret going for it in hindsight, but know they were beaten by Dave and Rachel fair and square. See what else they have to say about their final leg, how close they were to winning the Fast Forward and why they're so much more than a Jersey Shore stereotype.

You kept saying you didn't want to get beaten by a girl. Why can't you get beaten by a girl?Joey: [Laughs] I dunno why I thought that. Now I'll never underestimate a girl again!

How far behind Ralph and Vanessa were you?Joey: We don't even know. They always say "race your own race." You never know how far or close you are to other teams unless you see them and we didn't see them. Once we lost the Fast Forward, we were like "Sh--!" [Laughs] ... However long it took us to do that, all the other teams had a jump-start on the other tasks, so we were pissed off.

Why did you decide to go for it? Did you know when you decided that Dave and Rachel were doing it too?Danny: We were actually the first ones who chose to do the Fast Forward. We were the first ones out of there. Our cab was ahead of Dave and Rachel's. We said to ourselves before entering Azerbaijan that we gotta roll the dice here and get first. We saw the Fast Forward and didn't even think twice about it. We didn't even read the other clue! ... We kept looking behind us and no team was behind us, and I thought we were the only ones going to do it. But our cab was taking a leisurely drive around Azerbaijan and all of the sudden, their cab flew by us. They got there a good two or three minutes before us.Joey: Yeah, we still went for it because we believed we could beat them. When we got there, they were getting to the first stack of hay, which was obviously closest to where we got left off, and we took the one in the back. Our mistake was I was throwing the hay down to Danny onto the floor and he was picking them up and stacking them. Dave was throwing them onto the piles and Rachel was just moving them over. We thought we were going way faster than them. Next thing we know, they were done. We went from happy to mad in five seconds. We're not sore losers. Obviously we got beaten fair and square, but I was like, "No way!"Danny: I literally had one more hay bundle to put on top. As I was lifting, I hear, "They're done" from Joey.

The last Fast Forward was right next to the Roadblock and you had to take a cab to this one. Were the locations far apart?Danny: Yeah. I think we knew that whoever didn't win that would probably be out of the Race. We were hoping the places would be close, but it was all the way across the city. But we never give up — you saw that the first leg. We should've been eliminated then, but we pushed through and got a little lucky there.Joey: We also had to keep the cab the entire duration of the leg and he was driving slowly and didn't know where to go. Other cars were speeding pass us. I don't want to put the blame specifically on the cab, but maybe if we had somebody who knew where they were going or went faster, things would've been different.Danny: To be honest, if we had Dave and Rachel's cab, we would've been there first. And if Dave and Rachel didn't pass us, our cab driver might not have even found the hay because once we said, "Follow them," he went faster. The thing that stunk was that after the Fast Forward, our cab driver was all by himself, whereas the other teams were together, so those drivers were working together. I kept trying to tell him to get on the phone, but he wouldn't. That put us at a big disadvantage. Like last season — that happened to the snowboarders and they got eliminated.

Do you regret taking the Fast Forward?Joey: I absolutely regret 100 percent taking the Fast Forward. We talk about it all the time. We shouldn't have done it, but if we had won, we would've been in first place and won the cars. It's coulda, woulda, shoulda. We did it, we lost and it's our fault. If we were brought back for another season and there's a Fast Forward, I'm just gonna rip that thing up because we're not doing another one!Danny: By the way, Joey was the one who said, "Let's do the Fast Forward." [Laughs]

When the cast was announced, a lot of fans thought you guys might be another Jersey Shore — party animals and obnoxious. But I think a lot of them saw that you're nice guys and grew to like you. Did you see a shift in the fan reaction?Danny: I think we really changed a lot of people's minds. When people think of the East Coast and Jersey boys, they automatically think of The Situation and the Jersey Shore cast. We go out, we have a good time, but we're not complete animals like that. We got along with everyone on the show. If there was a U-Turn, we wouldn't have been U-Turned because people didn't like us; we would've been U-Turned because we're a threat. But I don't think teams would've U-Turned us anyway because teams got along with us.Joey: It's funny because in the pre-Race interview, we said we do the whole gym, club and tanning thing. Looking at us from the outside, we definitely look like the stereotypical Jersey Shore guys, but we wanted to break down those barriers. And if we had gotten eliminated that first episode, we would've been exactly what everyone said — "We knew it. These guys are dumb. They couldn't do this and that." Luckily, we made it through the sixth leg. We're reading things online and people are saying, "You weren't cocky. You were nice and enjoyable to watch."

You seemed to enjoy the Jersey Shore and Team Guido nicknames.Danny: We enjoy them. People tweet jokes to us about the Jersey Shore and guidos, and we retweet them with a smiley face. And people realize, hey, they have a sense of humor and they know that we're spoofing on it. We're not better than anybody, but I think we represented our families and where we come from well. Joey: We're also put in a different environment. If you followed us to a club, yeah, you'll see us partying and drinking. Put us in a competition-based setting, we'll compete and hopefully dominate everything. We did a good job showing we're not all about that lifestyle.

Were you aware of the original Team Guido: Bill and Joe?Joey: Yeah. I actually saw something on the Internet when the cast was announced and fans said there's a Team Guido. I don't know if it was Bill or Joe, but someone replied to that saying, "This is the original Team Guido cast member from Season 1. There's only one Team Guido, so there's a curse out on these guys." [Laughs]

Maybe that's why you lost.Danny: Maybe! And they were named Team Guido after their dog. But we didn't ask for the Team Guido nickname; we were given it. So they can have it!Joey: We wanted to be the New York boys. Obviously, we knew people would call us the Jersey Shore team, but we didn't expect Team Guido. I guess people just looked us and went, "Team Guido."

Where did you get your animal hats and '80s glasses?Danny: We brought those. We wanted to show that we're about having a fun, good time. Looking back, I'm glad we did because our fan base is more than just 18-to-25-year-olds. Little kids are coming up to us and their parents are saying, "We appreciate the way you guys represented yourselves on the show." I'm happy that we showed who we are. We're setting a good example as opposed to the typical Jersey Shore example that's out there, which is drinking, partying and all sorts of garbage.Joey: We were shopping and saw those and said we'll buy them and if we go anywhere cold, we'll have to wear them. People who know us know that we're jokesters. I would never wear that hat somewhere serious, but we're on TV, I'm gonna throw on a silly hat and stupid glasses and make people laugh. And people did.Danny: We do wear those glasses at the club. We're not gonna lie. And we have a glasses line coming out, so you have to stay tuned to our Twitter for more news.

What else are you up to?Danny: We'd love to do something again and show the world more about us. The way the Jersey Shore kids are portrayed — they just party. Hopefully we'll get an opportunity out of this.Joey: We would definitely love if we could get our own show ... where we travel and do all sorts of crazy things. We had a blast doing The Amazing Race, so we'd love to continue experiencing the world and doing our thing and letting people see who we are.

For the first time in seven seasons on The Amazing Race, there was a battle for a Fast Forward. And just like in Season 13, the losers this time — Joey "Fitness" Lasalla and Danny Horal — ultimately got eliminated. "We just really wanted first place," Joey tells TVGuide.com. "If we didn't do the Fast Forward, I think we would've come in second, third or fourth, but we did it and we have to live with it." The friends say they "100 percent" regret going for it in hindsight, but know they were beaten by Dave and Rachel fair and square. See what else they have to say about their final leg, how close they were to winning the Fast Forward and why they're so much more than a Jersey Shore stereotype.

You kept saying you didn't want to get beaten by a girl. Why can't you get beaten by a girl?Joey: [Laughs] I dunno why I thought that. Now I'll never underestimate a girl again!

How far behind Ralph and Vanessa were you?Joey: We don't even know. They always say "race your own race." You never know how far or close you are to other teams unless you see them and we didn't see them. Once we lost the Fast Forward, we were like "Sh--!" [Laughs] ... However long it took us to do that, all the other teams had a jump-start on the other tasks, so we were pissed off.

Why did you decide to go for it? Did you know when you decided that Dave and Rachel were doing it too?Danny: We were actually the first ones who chose to do the Fast Forward. We were the first ones out of there. Our cab was ahead of Dave and Rachel's. We said to ourselves before entering Azerbaijan that we gotta roll the dice here and get first. We saw the Fast Forward and didn't even think twice about it. We didn't even read the other clue! ... We kept looking behind us and no team was behind us, and I thought we were the only ones going to do it. But our cab was taking a leisurely drive around Azerbaijan and all of the sudden, their cab flew by us. They got there a good two or three minutes before us.Joey: Yeah, we still went for it because we believed we could beat them. When we got there, they were getting to the first stack of hay, which was obviously closest to where we got left off, and we took the one in the back. Our mistake was I was throwing the hay down to Danny onto the floor and he was picking them up and stacking them. Dave was throwing them onto the piles and Rachel was just moving them over. We thought we were going way faster than them. Next thing we know, they were done. We went from happy to mad in five seconds. We're not sore losers. Obviously we got beaten fair and square, but I was like, "No way!"Danny: I literally had one more hay bundle to put on top. As I was lifting, I hear, "They're done" from Joey.

The last Fast Forward was right next to the Roadblock and you had to take a cab to this one. Were the locations far apart?Danny: Yeah. I think we knew that whoever didn't win that would probably be out of the Race. We were hoping the places would be close, but it was all the way across the city. But we never give up — you saw that the first leg. We should've been eliminated then, but we pushed through and got a little lucky there.Joey: We also had to keep the cab the entire duration of the leg and he was driving slowly and didn't know where to go. Other cars were speeding pass us. I don't want to put the blame specifically on the cab, but maybe if we had somebody who knew where they were going or went faster, things would've been different.Danny: To be honest, if we had Dave and Rachel's cab, we would've been there first. And if Dave and Rachel didn't pass us, our cab driver might not have even found the hay because once we said, "Follow them," he went faster. The thing that stunk was that after the Fast Forward, our cab driver was all by himself, whereas the other teams were together, so those drivers were working together. I kept trying to tell him to get on the phone, but he wouldn't. That put us at a big disadvantage. Like last season — that happened to the snowboarders and they got eliminated.

Do you regret taking the Fast Forward?Joey: I absolutely regret 100 percent taking the Fast Forward. We talk about it all the time. We shouldn't have done it, but if we had won, we would've been in first place and won the cars. It's coulda, woulda, shoulda. We did it, we lost and it's our fault. If we were brought back for another season and there's a Fast Forward, I'm just gonna rip that thing up because we're not doing another one!Danny: By the way, Joey was the one who said, "Let's do the Fast Forward." [Laughs]

When the cast was announced, a lot of fans thought you guys might be another Jersey Shore — party animals and obnoxious. But I think a lot of them saw that you're nice guys and grew to like you. Did you see a shift in the fan reaction?Danny: I think we really changed a lot of people's minds. When people think of the East Coast and Jersey boys, they automatically think of The Situation and the Jersey Shore cast. We go out, we have a good time, but we're not complete animals like that. We got along with everyone on the show. If there was a U-Turn, we wouldn't have been U-Turned because people didn't like us; we would've been U-Turned because we're a threat. But I don't think teams would've U-Turned us anyway because teams got along with us.Joey: It's funny because in the pre-Race interview, we said we do the whole gym, club and tanning thing. Looking at us from the outside, we definitely look like the stereotypical Jersey Shore guys, but we wanted to break down those barriers. And if we had gotten eliminated that first episode, we would've been exactly what everyone said — "We knew it. These guys are dumb. They couldn't do this and that." Luckily, we made it through the sixth leg. We're reading things online and people are saying, "You weren't cocky. You were nice and enjoyable to watch."

You seemed to enjoy the Jersey Shore and Team Guido nicknames.Danny: We enjoy them. People tweet jokes to us about the Jersey Shore and guidos, and we retweet them with a smiley face. And people realize, hey, they have a sense of humor and they know that we're spoofing on it. We're not better than anybody, but I think we represented our families and where we come from well. Joey: We're also put in a different environment. If you followed us to a club, yeah, you'll see us partying and drinking. Put us in a competition-based setting, we'll compete and hopefully dominate everything. We did a good job showing we're not all about that lifestyle.

Were you aware of the original Team Guido: Bill and Joe?Joey: Yeah. I actually saw something on the Internet when the cast was announced and fans said there's a Team Guido. I don't know if it was Bill or Joe, but someone replied to that saying, "This is the original Team Guido cast member from Season 1. There's only one Team Guido, so there's a curse out on these guys." [Laughs]

Maybe that's why you lost.Danny: Maybe! And they were named Team Guido after their dog. But we didn't ask for the Team Guido nickname; we were given it. So they can have it!Joey: We wanted to be the New York boys. Obviously, we knew people would call us the Jersey Shore team, but we didn't expect Team Guido. I guess people just looked us and went, "Team Guido."

Where did you get your animal hats and '80s glasses?Danny: We brought those. We wanted to show that we're about having a fun, good time. Looking back, I'm glad we did because our fan base is more than just 18-to-25-year-olds. Little kids are coming up to us and their parents are saying, "We appreciate the way you guys represented yourselves on the show." I'm happy that we showed who we are. We're setting a good example as opposed to the typical Jersey Shore example that's out there, which is drinking, partying and all sorts of garbage.Joey: We were shopping and saw those and said we'll buy them and if we go anywhere cold, we'll have to wear them. People who know us know that we're jokesters. I would never wear that hat somewhere serious, but we're on TV, I'm gonna throw on a silly hat and stupid glasses and make people laugh. And people did.Danny: We do wear those glasses at the club. We're not gonna lie. And we have a glasses line coming out, so you have to stay tuned to our Twitter for more news.

What else are you up to?Danny: We'd love to do something again and show the world more about us. The way the Jersey Shore kids are portrayed — they just party. Hopefully we'll get an opportunity out of this.Joey: We would definitely love if we could get our own show ... where we travel and do all sorts of crazy things. We had a blast doing The Amazing Race, so we'd love to continue experiencing the world and doing our thing and letting people see who we are.

Joey "Fitness" Lasalla and Danny Horal were eliminated from The Amazing Race's twentieth season during Sunday night's broadcast of the CBS reality competition.

The "Friends" team became the fifth team eliminated from the around-the-world competition after they arrived at the Race's sixth Pit Stop at Esplanade Estakada in Baku, Azerbaijan in last place due to attempting to complete a Fast Forward task which they had failed to finish before another team -- putting them in last place and leaving them little opportunity to ever catch up and surpass their fellow Racers.

On Monday, Joey and Danny talked to Reality TV World about their The Amazing Race experience -- including how close they really were to Vanessa Macias and Ralph Kelley heading to the Pit Stop, what they regretted the most from their time on the show, how long it took them to complete the Roadblock and Detour tasks, what played a major role in their elimination that viewers didn't get to see, and why they believed they had to prove themselves to friends and home viewers going into the competition.

Reality TV World: How far behind Vanessa and Ralph do you think you guys finally arrived at the Pit Stop? Because the show made it look like the race between you two was pretty close there at the end.

Danny Horal: We honestly, we don't even know. When we got to the "Apples," we were so adrenaline rushed and kind of pissed off about the hay thing that we weren't looking around to see where everybody else was. We were just trying to find that apple and get out of there as fast as possible, but we honestly don't even know where they went.

Joey "Fitness" Lasalla: When you see other teams at a Detour task or whatever, you don't know whether you're two hours behind or 20 minutes behind. Just because you see another team, you might not be neck and neck. But yeah, we didn't even see anybody, so we didn't even know there was a team that was right ahead of us. It could have been anybody honestly.

Reality TV World: What made you guys choose to take on the Fast Forward task? Did you do it simply because you knew you had a jump on most of the other teams and thought you'd have a chance at remaining in the Race if you lost the task or were you just confident you could beat whoever you ended up going up against?

Danny Horal: First off, we didn't even know what the task was when we read the clue. The clue just said it had something to do with agriculture, so we had no clue if it was physical or mental -- we had no idea. So we just decided going into that leg of the Race, we wanted to come in first.

We came in tenth, eighth, third, second, and now, we wanted to come in first and really get a lead over here and try to win this whole entire race. So I guess once we ripped open the envelope and we saw the Fast Forward, we didn't even read the Detour. We just went right for the Fast Forward.

Reality TV World: You were the second ones to come out of the temple and retrieve the clue for the Fast Forward task, but when did you guys actually learn that Rachel Brown and Dave Brown Jr. decided to also go for the Fast Forward task? Did you first realize that when you noticed them in the cab in front of you? And at that point, did you ever consider changing your minds or were you still set on trying to finish in first place?

Joey "Fitness" Lasalla: To be quite honest, I think that me and Danny were the first people out of the temple. I don't know how it panned out, but we hopped in our cab and obviously decided to do the Fast Forward.

Next thing we know, we're driving -- and maybe we were driving slower or the guy didn't know where he was going -- but the next thing you know, we see one of those cabs drive right past us and it was Dave and Rachel and they get ahead of us. And then obviously, now we're second going to the Fast Forward. So we told our cab to just follow them.

It seemed like once we got to the Fast Forward, they hopped out before us and were there maybe a minute before us -- or 45 seconds. They started stacking the hay and then me and Danny had to take the truck in the back and start stacking the hay. But it seemed like they got a jump start on us, but we were pretty positive that we could beat them.

[It was] definitely a male-male team compared to a female and a male, so we're like, "Okay, when we do this, go very fast, go hard." And then it seemed like they just finished quicker and we were baffled, like there's no way they're done! It was kind of like, she said, "We're done!" And then we started going like, "No way." But they beat us fair and square.

Reality TV World: Where do you think you went wrong during that hay-stacking Fast Forward task? Do you think you just had a bad strategy and Rachel and Dave's method was more efficient, or do you think you guys just weren't moving fast enough or something?

Danny Horal: We were a couple of two guys from New York. I've never stacked hay in my life, so this was kind of completely new. Looking back on it after watching it, yeah, Joey should have tossed them off the truck ontop of each other maybe, but in the heat of the moment, you're not really thinking about it.

You're just working as hard as you can, but like Joey said, we were the first ones out of that temple. So, it really came down to the cab. If our cab -- it came down to one minute. All I had to do was pick up one piece, one stack of hay, and lift it up. And then we would've been done. So, that one minute was crucial.

Reality TV World: How long do you think you guys were going at the hay-stacking Fast Forward task and how long would you say it took Rachel and Dave to complete it?

Joey "Fitness" Lasalla: I would say honestly, it took an hour, maybe 45 minutes -- probably like an hour to finish that. And we finished right after them. Actually, we didn't even finish. They said they were done and we said, "You know what? We have to leave and we have to go back and do the Detour."

But going back to what you asked Danny or what Danny was replying to, definitely their method of throwing the stacks of hay ontop of each other was more efficient. I was just taking them and throwing them down on the ground all over and Danny was picking them up and stacking them.

It seemed like Dave was throwing it right ontop of the stack and Rachel was just kind of putting them into place. So if we could go back, we would do it their way. But then again, if we could go back, I wouldn't have even done the Fast Forward because it kicked us out of the Race.

We were definitely doing well but because we had a bad cab, we were kind of separated from the pack and the other teams. It seemed like they were together and doing the tasks together and their cabs were communicating with each other. We were by ourselves and our cab really had no clue or no idea where he was going.

Reality TV World: The show made it look like Vanessa and Ralph had already left the "Apples" Detour task before you guys got there. Was that actually the case and do you have any idea how long before you got there they had left?

Danny Horal: When we got to the "Apples," we didn't even -- we were the only team there doing the "Apples." So we had no clue where any of the other teams were. We were pretty much just running our own race and hoping to God that somebody has a penalty or something. We had no clue where any of the other Racers were.

Joey "Fitness" Lasalla: We were actually crossing our fingers that maybe it would be a non-elimination, because one of the things when you're racing, if we see other teams, at least you know that if you're last, you might not be last and there are some teams around you could beat. If you're by yourself and you don't know if you're two hours behind or 10 minutes behind, it's kind of nerve-wracking.

So, we were just doing everything as fast as we could and once we got to the Pit Stop, we were hoping in our minds that it was a non-elimination and it wasn't. There was nothing we could do, but definitely, we wouldn't do the Fast Forward ever again. That's for sure.

Reality TV World: So did you really finish the "Apples" task as quickly as it seemed? How long did it actually take you guys to complete it?

Danny Horal: We knew that apple was going to be at the bottom. There's no way in hell they were going to put it ontop, but we knew that we were probably one of the last teams. So we chose the apples because number one, we didn't want to rub down a man and number two, we were hoping to God that we could just reach in and grab the right apple and get lucky and maybe pull out a comeback.

Joey "Fitness" Lasalla: It probably took about an hour to do that as well. We don't know how long it took the other teams, but it really seemed like -- and even in watching it -- that we did do it pretty quick, but it wasn't quick enough to catch up to the other teams.

Reality TV World: I know you just mentioned that you thought the flagged apple was going to be towards the bottom of the car, but how did you guys come to the conclusion that you should begin looking for the apples in the middle of the car? Did you just think that's probably where they'd hide it?

Danny Horal: We were the only team there, so we had no clue where the other teams were searching. So we just jumped right in and figured they'd put it right in the middle of the car in case there were two teams there going at it at the same time, so.

Joey "Fitness" Lasalla: I think I actually started in the trunk and it just seemed like nothing was in there. I was moving everything to the side, putting apples in cartons, and then we both just went from each side of the windows and just looked in there and then we found it. But it was definitely, you know, very tedious.

Because at one point, we were trying to take out every single apple and put it into cartons, and then we were just trying to move everything to the side just to kind of dig down deep, and then the apples would roll back down and we'd have to move them over.

So it was definitely, you know, a tedious thing. And we felt like we might have been in last place. That's always something that's on your mind, so we never wanted to give up and just hoped to speed through everything and make it to the Pit Stop and beat another team.

Reality TV World: I know you said you got through that "Apples" Detour task pretty quick, but now that you've seen the episode and caught a glimpse of what the "Oil" Detour task was like, looking back, do you regret not starting off with the oil task because it might have been even quicker for you guys than the "Apples" one, or do you think you ultimately made the right decision in choosing "Apples?"

Joey "Fitness" Lasalla: I think Danny might have loved to rub down the man in the oil, but I was fine with the opposite.

Danny Horal: Oh thanks.

Joey "Fitness" Lasalla: (Laughs)

Reality TV World: Joey, we didn't see much of you completing the craft simulator task. How did that go and did you struggle with it at all like J.J. Carrell and Vanessa did? J.J. swallowed water because he couldn't break the window at first and Vanessa was basically scared of being underwater in that tight space. Did you think it was difficult or no?

Joey "Fitness" Lasalla: When me and Danny saw that, I said, "I'll do it." I mean, I grew up on a beach. I used to surf and was always in the water. I did some lifeguarding things, and so I was definitely comfortable with the water task. When we used to have to do that stuff, we used to have to stay under the water for a certain amount of time and hold your breath.

So I was like, "You know what? I'll do this one." The only thing was it was a little nerve-wracking when you're strapped in and you have the water rushing in, so you kind of get nervous. But if you just stay calm, it was actually really, really easy to do. I kind of expected to do it pretty quick, which we did, so that was simple.

Reality TV World: So what was going through your minds while you guys were attempting to complete that Roadblock task? Were you freaking out thinking you were in last place and may not recover or were you optimistic you could get it done quickly, move on and avoid coming in last place?

Danny Horal: I was kind of down in the dumps because prior to that, our cab driver -- now that we couldn't successfully complete the Fast Forward -- now our cab driver, opposed to the other cab drivers, is working all by himself whereas the other cab drivers had all the teams together, so they were working together to find each location.

Our cab driver was working by himself, so we had a tough time finding the location of where that Roadblock was, so that kind of put us down in the dumps and it took us a very long time to get over to that.

Reality TV World: You were obviously hoping it would be a non-elimination leg on your way to that Pit Stop, but what did you think your chances actually were of that happening? Did you think they were good or no, considering the Racers had just experienced that two legs prior?

Joey "Fitness" Lasalla: I mean, you honestly never know what's going to happen. We were kind of hoping that maybe it'd be a non-elimination, but we knew that it was over. We felt like honestly when we didn't get that Fast Forward, it was like game over in our minds.

But we didn't want to give up just in case. You never know. There could be a twist or something could happen or, like Danny said, maybe a team gets penalized for something. So, we were kind of down after we lost the Fast Forward, but we were just hoping that something good could happen.

We just finished everything and once we got to the Pit Stop and Phil said, "You guys are the last team and you are eliminated," we basically just looked at each other and said, "We gave it a good run and we tried our best, and hopefully we showed everybody that there's another side to the whole Jersey Shore stereotype."

It's not all about partying and drinking and being cocky and stuck-up. It's about having fun, having a good time and being silly -- laughing and traveling the world and just enjoying everything.

Reality TV World: Were you guys aware at all of the bad relations that existed between Rachel Reilly and Brendon Villegas and Vanessa and Ralph? During a previous leg, it seemed like Rachel and Brendon really disliked Vanessa and it got to the point where they couldn't even work in the same space. Did you notice any of that happening while you were racing?

Danny Horal: We kind of saw it going on, but it was kind of funny just to sit back and watch actually. (Laughs) Because the Race kind of gets in between stuff. You kind of get some down time. So me and Joey, the thing about us, is we were happy go-getting guys, so we got along with each team. A lot of teams didn't get along with Rachel and Brendon. We actually got along with them.

But we also got along with Ralph and Vanessa too, so we played the field good I think. But it was definitely interesting to watch other teams fight, because we're not all about that. We didn't want to get in that kind of drama and stuff, because that's not who we are. We didn't want to play anything up for the cameras or for the show. We were actually just running the Race to win a million dollars and that's it.

Reality TV World: Vanessa and Ralph, Brendon and Rachel R., and Dave and Rachel B. have been shown bickering and arguing throughout the past few legs of the Race. What were your thoughts on these couples and do you think they all will last based on what you've seen? Why do you think they struggled at times to get along and work together?

Joey "Fitness" Lasalla: I think honestly, I don't know how they are outside of the Race or outside of the competition, I mean, obviously they're together for a reason, but it seems like when they're thrown into that type of environment where they have to get certain things done and it's a race and you're against other teams for a million dollars, it seems like it just puts 10-times, 20-times more pressure on.

It was kind of funny, like Danny said, to sit back and watch and see a different dynamic of the couples and how they fight. I know me and Danny, we were doing the same thing in running the Race for a million dollars -- obviously we're not a couple -- but it just seemed like they were fighting a lot.

I guess it was kind of funny to see them fight, but I mean, it definitely doesn't help them out to win a million dollars. Because if you don't get along with your partner and you don't see eye-to-eye on things, you won't go too far in the Race.

Reality TV World: Based upon last night's episode, it looks like Nary Ebeid and Jamie Graetz have kept their cover story that they're actually teachers and not federal agents. What was your reaction when you found out what their real occupations were and do you think their story actually did them any good?

Danny Horal: We had no clue that they weren't teachers. We thought that the whole way, but to be honest, I don't think it even would've made a difference to us. We treated everyone equally.

Reality TV World: So do you think it would have made a difference had you known they were federal agents sooner? Would you have been more intimidated by them?

Joey "Fitness" Lasalla: Not really. Basically whatever the team said to us -- whether they were teachers or friends or personal trainers, whatever, you know -- it really didn't matter. We were just going by who comes in first place, who comes in second.

They could be pro-athletes coming in eighth, seventh, sixth place. It doesn't really matter. It just depends on who's kind of the frontrunner, and so far, they're Art and J.J. and Dave and Rachel. He's like the army guy and then the border patrol guys. So I mean, it doesn't really depend on the profession. It just depends on how well they run the Race and where they place.

Reality TV World: So Joey, how did you get the nickname "Fitness?" And why did it stick with you?

Joey "Fitness" Lasalla: (Laughs) I've honestly had that name "Joey Fitness" for years, maybe since like 2004. It's a couple reasons why. I used to be a fitness model, so for five years, that was my job. So, Fitness model Joey Fitness. I was always in good shape and I used to do personal training as well, so with kind of the whole fitness thing, I was like "Joey the Fitness guy." It just turned into that [nickname].

But my actual friends, they won't call me up and say, "Hey, Joey Fitness, what are you doing?" But they call me Joey. Everybody else -- I'm known on the internet and Twitter and back in the day with Myspace, everybody's like, "Joey Fitness. Joey Fitness." That name just stuck.

Reality TV World: How were you cast on The Amazing Race? Was it your first time applying for the show and would you ever consider doing an all-stars edition if you were given the opportunity?

Danny Horal: It was actually funny. A casting agent saw a picture of us and I guess the whole Jersey Shore thing is kind of sticking out and I guess we fit the bill kind of. So I guess that kind of had a part to play in why we got chosen to do the show. I hope we kind of put a good perception on the East Coast people other than what the Jersey Shore kids are doing.

They kind of put a negative connotation on how kids from the East Coast and New York are really like. There's more than just partying and drinking and doing all the stuff that they do. We were able to travel the world, and I don't know if those kids could. So, I think we did it the right way.

I think the way we were portrayed on the show was as two good guys, so I hope the world saw that. And if there's an all-stars edition, yeah, we definitely want to be brought back. We discussed this and we'd be guaranteed to win if we get brought back on all-stars.

Joey "Fitness" Lasalla: Going back to how we were cast, we had many friends on Facebook and Myspace and we're probably friends with people that always have castings and this and that, so we saw the casting for The Amazing Race, and I guess they were looking for two Jersey Shore-stereotype guys and I guess we fit the bill.

Going back to whether we'd do all-stars, two things I need to say. If we get brought back to The Amazing Race, number one, 100% percent Top 3, we're guaranteed -- Top 3 -- we're guaranteed a win. But if there ever is a Fast Forward involved, we're ripping it up. We're not doing it. We're anti-Fast Forward.

We'll let another team do a Fast Forward, but we're definitely not doing a Fast Forward again because we see what it did to us this time and it knocked us out.

This week on The Amazing Race friends Joey “Fitness” Lasalla and Danny Horal of New York saw their time on the CBS reality series come to an end after making the decision to go for the Fast Forward.

Although Joey “Fitness” and Danny were strong competitors all season on The Amazing Race, the race fate of the two friends was sealed when Rachel and Dave were quicker to stack hay in Azerbaijan while competing for the Fast Forward. As a result of losing the Fast Forward, Joey and Danny had to make up time for the entire leg in an effort to become the comeback kids for another time on the race. Despite making up some lost time this week on The Amazing Race, Joey and Danny hit the mat in last place after searching through a car full of apples and cruising through a watery helicopter rescue inside a swimming pool.

The day after their elimination from The Amazing Race, The Deadbolt caught up with Joey “Fitness” and Danny to look back on the race, learn more about what went wrong, how their family and friends reacted to their time on the show, and how Joey and Danny broke out of the Jersey Shore stereotype.

THE DEADBOLT: So, how hard was it to stack the hay for the Fast Forward?

JOEY “FITNESS” LASALLA: It didn’t seem that hard as it was time consuming. I was up on the truck and I didn’t want to fall over. When I was throwing the hay down to Danny, it was a little unstable. Maybe I wasn’t going as fast as I should have been going but I was just throwing them down to Danny and he was stacking them up.

THE DEADBOLT: Were you guys surprised that Rachel got through it so quick?

JOEY “FITNESS”: I was actually very surprised. I was talking to Danny that we’re going at a fast pace but Rachel kept yelling out, “They’re killing us, Dave! They’re killing us!” We definitely felt that we were ahead. The next thing you know, Rachel and Dave are screaming that they’re done. We were in utter disbelief and we couldn’t believe it.

THE DEADBOLT: How far back were you in the end behind the others?

DANNY HORAL: The problem was – I don’t know if you grasp it on TV – our cab really hurt us a lot. First off, we were the first team out of the temple to go toward the Fast Forward. We thought no other team was behind us to go for the Fast Forward. All of a sudden, Dave and Rachel passed us and they arrived at the Fast Forward about a minute or two before us. So, that was one advantage.

Then our cab driver had no clue and there was a total language barrier. He spoke no English. Now our cab driver is working all by himself, alone, as opposed to all of the other teams who are going to the same place together, working with their cab drivers to get to those places and to find out where they are. We were kind of like a lost child out there.

THE DEADBOLT: When you got to the apples, did you feel you still had a shot?

JOEY “FITNESS”: When we were going through the Detour and the Roadblock, there were no other teams around. So we weren’t sure how close or how far we were, behind or near anybody. We were just trying to speed through everything. You get a good feeling when you see at least one or two teams there with you. At least you know there are one or two teams around you, so you maybe have a chance. We really had no clue whether we were five hours behind or thirty minutes behind. In the end, we were really unsure.

THE DEADBOLT: So, what was it like in that rescue pool?

JOEY “FITNESS”: It wasn’t bad. Just watching it on TV, it seemed like some of the other teams were nervous. I’ve always been around water, I used to surf a lot and do some life-guarding and I grew up on the beach. I’ve held my breath numerous times underwater, so that was pretty simple. The only thing that can get people wary is when you’re strapped in a seat belt and you know you have to get out. It’s not like you’re holding your breath underwater just to have a good time, you’re strapped in there and you’re upside down. But if you don’t panic and just try to get through it quickly, that’s what I did.

THE DEADBOLT: What did your family and friends think when they saw the show?

DANNY: When they first saw that we were on the show, period, they were really surprised. A lot of people didn’t expect two guys like me and Joey to go travel the world and do the things we did. They kind of stereotyped us – like a lot of people did after the first episode – as the Jersey Shore guys. All they do is party, drink, hook up with girls, and all of that.

But I think we kind of put that stereotype to the side and showed that there’s more to a couple of guys from New York in their twenties who can do the things we did, like travel the world and not just party like the Jersey Shore type kids.

THE DEADBOLT: Is there anything that wasn’t aired on TV that you wish we saw from the race?

JOEY “FITNESS”: I would say the leg that we were stacking the watermelons. Danny and I were actually fighting a lot, just minor bickering, and he threw a hammer at me. We thought they’d show that. That would have been funny. People never see me and Danny arguing since we’ve been good friends for a long time. We were there for hours stacking those watermelons and it was hot outside and we were just getting really frustrated. I remember he was trying to do something and I was yelling at him and he threw the hammer at me.

DANNY: I wish they did show the hammer thing, because I was right about what we supposed to be doing. [laughs] A lot of the stuff that you don’t see, you don’t see how grueling the show really is. We were sleeping in airports and train stations and they leave that out. You wonder, why do these people look like they’re so gassed when they get to these areas? Maybe it’s because we were sleeping on a cold tile floor for eight hours waiting for a plane. It takes a lot out of you.

JOEY “FITNESS”: Aside from sleeping on the floors, just the traveling, too. You’ll see on TV where they’ll show us on the bus from Point A to Point B. Meanwhile we’re been on the bus for eighteen hours. You’re just trekking and traveling on different flights. On TV it looks like two seconds. They’re flying from Argentina to Paraguay to Germany. In reality, we’re running through airports, racing to Customs, and it takes a toll on your body. You’re never getting a good night’s sleep. You’re either sleeping on a plane or not sleeping at all.

The Amazing Race 20: Exclusive Interview with Joey "Fitness" Lasalla and Danny HoralPosted on 03/27/2012 by Gina in The Amazing Race and Cast Interviews

by Gina Scarpa

New Yorkers Joey and Danny got off to a rough start this season on The Amazing Race, narrowly escaping elimination in the first leg. They recovered nicely and, by the third leg, established themselves as contenders to take home the million dollar prize waiting at the finish line. This week, they took a big gamble and lost, going up against Dave and Rachel for a Fast Forward. The couple finished first, leaving Joey and Danny too far behind the rest of the teams to catch up. Today, we talked to the guys in an exclusive interview about their experiences on the race and whether or not we'll see more of them.

Q. Gina, RealityWanted: Whose idea was it to try out for The Amazing Race?A. Joey: We've always seen the show and commercials. It's a popular show. The next thing we know, we see a casting for it and someone hit us up and said they were looking for a Jersey Shore type and we fit that to a "T". We wanted to go in with the approach that we don't wanna be those kids that are known for partying and getting with a million girls. There's another side to that whole thing. We have personalities, we can work together, and we can make people laugh.

Q. Gina, RealityWanted: You guys got off to a rough start and definitely caught a break with Misa and Maiya's blunder of not seeing Phil on the mat in Argentina. How lucky did you feel to be able to have made it past that first leg?A. Danny: That wasn't edited one bit. That was really down to the final seconds on that first leg. We treated it like we had an extra life. We wanted to take the most advantage of it that we could. We were feeling very blessed to be in the race.A. Joey: We looked at each other and said, "We gotta pay attention to everything, we gotta work hard, because we got a second chance." People were probably thinking we were going to go out next and we made it six legs.

Q. Gina, RealityWanted: You recovered nicely on the third leg in Paraguay and things really started to turn around for you. What changed for you?A. Danny: This was my first time out of the United States, period. We had a tough time just getting out of the United States. We got lost on our way to LAX. This whole experience was new to both of us, working together in another country. We started getting the hang of it, learning dialects, asking for directions, and getting good at the game.A. Joey: We made improvements and went from 10th to 8th to 2nd. On the first leg, we didn't really know what we were doing. Each leg, we started to progress a little more. It's a learning experience. We really believe if we didn't do the Fast Forward, or won it, we would've been top three and could've won the whole thing.

Q. Gina, RealityWanted: Why did you guys go for the Fast Forward, knowing Dave and Rachel were going to try for it as well?A. Danny: Here's the thing. We were actually the first team out of the temple and we were the first one in the cab. Our cab driver... I don't know if he didn't know where it was and he was going kind of slow. I didn't see any other teams and then out of nowhere, Dave and Rachel's cab comes flying by us. I said, "There they go! Why don't you just follow them because they look like they know where they're going?" They actually got there a minute or two before us and that kind of made the difference. All I had to do was pick up one more piece.A. Joey: It wasn't even anything that we spoke about before. The minute we saw the Fast Forward, we just ran outta there and kind of processed it on the way. Once we saw they got there before us, we started trucking and going as hard as we could. We were kind of devastated. We ran the best that we could after that it seemed

Q. Gina, RealityWanted: How far behind the pack were you once the Fast Forward was complete?A. Danny: After the Fast Forward was done, we had to get back into that cab. He spoke no English at all. All the other teams were together and those drivers were following each other. Our cab driver was all alone. When we had to do the helicopter thing, it took us so long to get there because he had no idea where it was. Maybe we should've stayed with the pack knowing that our driver had no clue.A. Joey: Going back to what Danny said about staying with the pack, if we did that, we could've beat out the other teams but we did take that risk. We go back in our head a million times and we say, "We could've won and we would've won cars!" To have won cars would've been ten times better.A. Danny: It's crazy to anyone who has watched the show. They keep bringing up the littlest thing can ruin your game, like a cab driver. Like with the snowboarders last season, their cab driver was all alone.

Q. Gina, RealityWanted: How did you handle your elimination from the race?A. Joey: We kinda had a feeling that it was over as we ran up to that mat. We were hoping we would be lucky for a non-elimination but obviously it wasn't. Every day, me and Danny talk and we're like, "Why did we do that? We could've won this race!" It was so neck and neck with the Fast Forward. Watching it with my family, they were so nervous.A. Danny: We're not gonna dwell on the past and so be it. We're hoping that CBS is watching our Twitters. I think a lot of people grew to really like us and thought we were likeable.A. Joey: We definitely feel like if there's another Unfinished Business or All Stars season that we definitely wanna be brought back. We wanna win the million and if we see a Fast Forward, we'll step on it and throw it out.

JOEY “FITNESS”: Aside from sleeping on the floors, just the traveling, too. You’ll see on TV where they’ll show us on the bus from Point A to Point B. Meanwhile we’re been on the bus for eighteen hours. You’re just trekking and traveling on different flights. On TV it looks like two seconds. They’re flying from Argentina to Paraguay to Germany. In reality, we’re running through airports, racing to Customs, and it takes a toll on your body. You’re never getting a good night’s sleep. You’re either sleeping on a plane or not sleeping at all.

This is interesting and it also explains why people get frustrated or emotional. They are just plain tired.

Thanks for all the interviews.

ETA: I didn't like them at first but they grew on me. I was sorry to see them go.

I definitely think they could've got very far into this race, if they had survived the leg. I found them really fun to watch!

I wish they never attempted the Fast Forward, then they would've probably survived. But then Vanessa & Ralph would be gone, so it's a lose/lose situation.

Logged

1. Don't pick up the phone - You know he's only calling 'cause he's drunk and alone.2. Don't let him in - You have to kick him out again.3. Don't be his friend - You know you're gonna wake up in his bed in the morning.And if you're under him, you ain't gettin' over him. ♥

I think the way we were portrayed on the show was as two good guys, so I hope the world saw that. And if there's an all-stars edition, yeah, we definitely want to be brought back. We discussed this and we'd be guaranteed to win if we get brought back on all-stars.

I was sad to see them eliminated, especially in a battle for a fast forward which I usually love.They got Terence and Sarah'd does that mean Vanessa and Ralph are going to forgo their shoes at a detour and Dave (of Rachel) is going to have his fitness brought under scrutiny by a baker woman? I hope so!